4 ms·

This fails to mentions some of the best "hooks" they've got: tools to reduce lecture prep time, assignment prep, and grading. I've seen textbooks whose online

by iak8god 10y ago

This fails to mentions some of the best "hooks" they've got: tools to reduce lecture prep time, assignment prep, and grading. I've seen textbooks whose online content for instructors include a full deck of (extremely uninspired) powerpoint slides. And I've seen lazy profs use them. Web-based assignments with automated grading are also powerful hooks. Like the prepared slides, they discourage instructors from engaging with the material, providing any unique insights from their own experience, or actually working with students to achieve understanding.

jasonjei 10y ago
I remember my school had used some automated grading tool provided by the textbook publisher for differential equations. The nasty thing about it was you could pay an exorbitant amount of money just to access the homework site (you were required to buy in because it was part of the grade), and for a little bit more money it would include access to the electronic textbook for the duration of the course. And new textbooks included one-time vouchers (and of course the used textbooks didn't come with any voucher). Given the cost of the voucher, you might as well just buy the new textbook every time. Unfortunately, the textbook author was also the instructor of the course who claimed not to have received any benefit from this arrangement.
tetraodonpuffer 10y ago
if you are paid an adjunct salary and have basically no time to prep for classes because you have to teach several just to put bread on the table, you might not have a choice but to use these "uninspired" slides. I would be wary of calling a teacher "lazy" in these post-tenure days. Not saying lazy teachers don't exist but these days I would definitely give them more the benefit of the doubt.
- iak8god 10y ago
  I've done the adjunct thing, and I'm sympathetic to your point. The current state of post-tenure higher ed is just not sustainable. What exactly is the point of having an overworked person (pulling 60 hours weeks at below minimum wage, as some adjuncts I know do) stand up in front of a group of students and read slides to them that just summarize the textbook chapter that they've all supposedly just read? Luckily for the administrators who've created this situation, most students care so little about actually getting an education that they fail to notice how badly they're being ripped off.
- CyberDildonics 10y ago
  Thats not teaching, its basically just being present while people teach themselves.

by iak8god 10y ago

jasonjei 10y ago

I remember my school had used some automated grading tool provided by the textbook publisher for differential equations. The nasty thing about it was you could pay an exorbitant amount of money just to access the homework site (you were required to buy in because it was part of the grade), and for a little bit more money it would include access to the electronic textbook for the duration of the course. And new textbooks included one-time vouchers (and of course the used textbooks didn't come with any voucher). Given the cost of the voucher, you might as well just buy the new textbook every time. Unfortunately, the textbook author was also the instructor of the course who claimed not to have received any benefit from this arrangement.

tetraodonpuffer 10y ago

if you are paid an adjunct salary and have basically no time to prep for classes because you have to teach several just to put bread on the table, you might not have a choice but to use these "uninspired" slides. I would be wary of calling a teacher "lazy" in these post-tenure days. Not saying lazy teachers don't exist but these days I would definitely give them more the benefit of the doubt.

iak8god 10y ago
I've done the adjunct thing, and I'm sympathetic to your point. The current state of post-tenure higher ed is just not sustainable. What exactly is the point of having an overworked person (pulling 60 hours weeks at below minimum wage, as some adjuncts I know do) stand up in front of a group of students and read slides to them that just summarize the textbook chapter that they've all supposedly just read? Luckily for the administrators who've created this situation, most students care so little about actually getting an education that they fail to notice how badly they're being ripped off.
CyberDildonics 10y ago
Thats not teaching, its basically just being present while people teach themselves.